MAJOR TRAINING REPORT

A Report
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Degree of
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Communication

AT

ALL INDIAN RADIO, BHOPAL (M.P)

ON

“RADIO BROADCASTING”

Training Under: Submitted By:

Ravindra Goel Subedar Singh
(Station Engineer)
(0103EC071108)

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

 Lakshmi Narain College Of Technology, Bhopal (M.P.)
I deem it my privilege to extent my profound gratitude and appreciation towards all those who
have directly or indirectly involved themselves in making this training a great success. My
sincere appreciation and thanks to my training in charge, G.P KHARE (Assistant Station
Engineer) and various other engineers for guiding us and explaining how the AM and Fm
broadcast takes place and
for their diligent attention towards my training through its all stages. I wish to express my
gratitude to honourable Station Engineer, Ravindra Goyal for their sincere guidance. They
stood by us for explaining the procedure, explaining each and every component in detail all
along the of my training. They also provided us with additional ideas with painstaking
attention to details of each and every concept. Their comments and criticism have been
invaluable.
Studio Transmission:

A broadcasting studio is a room in studio complex which has been specially designed and
constructed to serve the purpose of originating broadcasting programs. Whenever any
musician sings and we sit in front of a performing musician to listen to him, we enjoy the
program by virtue of the superb qualities of our sensory organs namely ears. However, when
we listen to the same program over the broadcast chain at our home though domestic receivers,
the conditions are entirely different. We as broadcasters are continuously engaged in the task
of ensuring the maximum pleasure for the listener at home when the artists are performing
inside the studios.

In order to achieve our goal we must thoroughly understand the characteristic of the different
components involved in the broadcast chain, and in this process we must preserve the original
quality of sound produced by the artists inside the studio. The science of sound is often called
“Acoustics’. It would be thus prudent to understand the field of acoustics as applied to
broadcasting.

Acoustic Treatment

Good acoustics is a pre-requisite of high quality broadcasting or recording. Acoustic treatment

is provided in studios, control rooms, and other technical areas in order to achieve the acoustic
conditions which have been found from experience to be suitable for the various types of
programmes. In this section problems and design aspects of internal acoustics of a broadcast
studio are explained.

Propagation of Sound Waves

Sound waves emanating from a sound source are propagated in all directions. These sound
waves are subject to reflection, absorption and refraction on encountering an obstacle. Extent
to which each of these phenomenon takes place depends upon the structure and shape of the
obstacle, and also on the frequency of sound waves. In close rooms, the sound would be
reflected and re-reflected till the intensity weakens and it dies down.
Physical characteristics of sound waves are thus modified in various ways before they reach
the human ear. These reflected waves can create echo effect in the room. To achieve the
desirable effects of the reflected sound, the dimensions and shape of the room are decided with
due care and acoustic treatments are also provided on the various surfaces.

Reverberation Time(R/T)

The ‘hanging-on’ of the sound in a room after the exciting signal has been removed, is called
‘reverberation’ and the time taken for the sound to decay to one millionth of its initial value,
i.e. 60 dB, after the source has stopped, is termed ‘Reverberation Time’(R/T).

R/T of a room depends upon shape and size of room and on the total absorption offered on
boundary surfaces. Reverberation is the most important single parameter of a room. It
influences the audio programs in following ways:-

 Volume of program increases due to reverberation of sound

 Reverberation results in prolongation of sound inside the room. This leads to ‘blending
of one sound with the next and produces a very pleasant continuity in the flow of music.
Too much of prolongation, however, may create loss in intelligibility of program due to
decrease in clarity.
 Reverberation time of a room is dependent on frequency. Therefore, it modifies the
frequency characteristics of the total sound field inside the room. High R/T at mid and
high frequencies lead to increased ‘liveness’ and that at low frequencies increases
‘warmth’. This effect can be used judiciously for desirable qualities.

Acoustic Absorbers

Acoustic absorbers are provided on the inner surfaces of the room to achieve optimum R/T
characteristics. Different absorbers have different absorption characteristics. No single
absorber generally provides uniform absorption over the complete frequency spectrum.Some of
the commonly used absorbers are:

i) Porous Materials
ii) Fibrous Materials

iii) Panel Absorbers

iv) Perforated Panel Absorbers

Sound Insulation

The ‘unwanted sound’ or ‘noise’ in the studios spoils the quality of recorded programmes.
Sound insulation of walls doors etc. and layout of the studio building is therefore, decided for
acceptable background noise level in the studios

Noise in studios may be either air-borne or structure borne. Background noise in a studio can
originate from

 Outside the building

 Inside the studio itself and /or
 Outside the studio but within the building

Studio chain in a typical air station

The broadcast of a programme from source to listener involves use of studios, microphones,
announcer console, switching console, telephone lines / STL and Transmitter. Normally the
programmes originate from a studio centre located inside the city/town for the convenience of
artists. The programme could be either “live” or recorded”. In some cases, the programme can
be from OB spot, such as commentary of cricket match etc. Programmes that are to be relayed
from other Radio Stations are received in a receiving centre and then sent to the studio centre
or directly received at the studio centre through RN terminal/telephone line. All these
programmes are then selected and routed from studio to transmitting centre through broadcast
quality telephone lines or studio transmitter microwave/VHF links. A simplified block
schematic showing the different stages is given in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Simplified block schematic of broadcasting chain

Studio Operational Requirements

Many technical requirements of studios like minimum noise level, optimum reverberation time
etc. are normally met at the time of installation of studio. However for operational purposes,
certain basic minimum technical facilities are required for smooth transmission of programmes
and for proper control. These are as follows:
 Programme in a studio may originate from a microphone or a tape deck, or a turntable or a
compact disc or a R-DAT. So a facility for selection of output of any of these equipments
at any moment is necessary. Announcer console does this function.
 Facility to fade in/fade out the programme smoothly and control the programme level
within prescribed limits.
 Facility for aural monitoring to check the quality of sound production and sound meters to
indicate the intensity (VU meters).
 For routing of programmes from various studios/OB spots to a central control room, we
require a facility to further mix/select the programmes. The Control Console in the control
room performs this function. It is also called switching console.
 Before feeding the programs to the transmitter, the response of the program should be made
flat by compensating HF and LF losses using equalized line amplifiers.(This is applicable in
case of telephone lines only)
 Visual signaling facility between studio announcer booth and control room should also be
provided.
 If the programs from various studios are to be fed to more than one transmitter, a master
switching facility is also required.
FACILITIES IN STUDIO CENTRE

Introduction

In addition to control room and studios, dubbing/recording rooms are also provided in a studio
complex. Following equipments are generally provided in a recording/dubbing room :

i) Console tape recorders

ii) Console tape decks
iii) Recording/dubbing panel having switches jacks and keys etc.

The above equipments can be used for the following purpose

 For recording of programmes originating from any studio.

 For recording of programmes available in the switching consoles in control room.
 For dubbing of programmes available on cassette tape.
 For editing of programmes
 For mixing and recording of programmes

Recording Room

A block schematic of a typical recording room is shown in figure 1. Two numbers of CTRs
and two numbers of Push Button switches have been shown. Outputs from various studios and
switching consoles have been given to multiple pads 1,2,3 and 4. Outputs from the multiple
pads are wired to PB switches. Three numbers of receptacles for cassette outputs have been
provided. Transformers T1 and T2 transform the output impedance of the cassette recorder to
600 ohm. The output of CTR # 1 is wired to PB switch # 2 through MP # 6. With this
arrangement output of CTR # 1 can be recorded on CTR # 2. Please carefully note the
impedances and levels at various points. Red and green lamps are provided on the control
panel for indications from and to control room and studios.
Dubbing Room

A block schematic of a typical dubbing room is shown in figure 1. The arrangement is similar
to the recording room except that an additional tape deck and a mixer unit have been provided.
This arrangement allows mixing of programmes.

Fig. 1 Block schematic of Recording / Dubbing Room

Loud Speakers

A loudspeaker performs an opposite function to a microphone, i.e. it converts electrical

signal into sound wave.

Moving Coil or dynamic loudspeaker

It consists of a permanent magnet and a voice coil for carrying audio signals. Voice coil
is having a few turns of wire, wound on paper, plastic or aluminum former. It is attached
to a paper that radiates sound. The coil is suspended with the help of “spider”, made of
flexible material. Spider permits forward backward motion but no lateral motion.

When audio currents from an amplifier flow through the coil, it produces a magnetic field
around the coil. This field is at right angle to the field of permanent magnet. The two
fields attract or repel each other, depending on the position of the permanent magnet. The
voice coil and the cone assembly move corresponding to the audio currents. The resulting
cone vibrations produce air pressure variation in correspondence with the audio signal.

In hi-fi applications two or more speakers are used to cover the full audio range. To
reproduce high frequencies, it is common to attach a dome of fabric or plastic material to
the coil than to the cone, thus forming a dome “tweeter”. Low frequency speakers known
“woofers” are of large size. The middle range speakers are called “squeakers”.

Baffles

To avoid air escaping round the edges, the diaphragm should be at least one half wave-
length across. If we want to radiate 50 Hz, the wave length is 1100/50 = 22 feet, it means
the diaphragm would be 11 ft in diameter. One way to avoiding this large size is to mount
the speaker in the baffle. The purpose of baffle is to prevent any access from back to front
around the edges. Putting the speaker in a closed box except for the diaphragm does solve
the problem. But this arrangement has one defect, the air inside the box is compressed
and rarified and places a “loading” on the diaphragm movement. This results in the
wastage of most of the energy.

Therefore two main problems in designing loudspeakers are :

i. To get any radiation of power at low frequencies, the

diaphragm has to move a lot of air.
ii. The diaphragm moves air on both sides of it, however,
movements is in opposition.
To overcome this problem and make use of the radiation from the rear, bass reflect
enclosure is used. This box has one or two small holes reducted ports and this is tuned to
the fundamental resonance of the drive unit. Then not only resonance of the loudspeaker
is a damped but low frequency can be extended. The port in effect, reverses the phase of
the rear wave and uses it to reinforce output at the front. Hence this form of enclosure is
often called a phase invertor.

Horn

A horn is a specialized form of baffle, its cross-sectional area expands exponentially. It

behaves as an acoustic transformer and improve the efficiency of the speaker. By using
horn low frequencies get extra emphasis. For low frequencies, folded horns are used.

Speaker Impedance

Normally such speakers are designed with impedances of 2,3,5,8,9,16,32 ohms. When
several speakers are connected in parallel as in the case of column units then their phase
must be checked. This is done by feeding currents from a Torch cell through a switch.
While switching it on every time the position of the cone is watched whether it is moving
inwards or outwards. In fact all the cones should behave identically so that their outputs
are together. Whenever any cone movement is to be reversed its connections at the
terminals may be interchanged to get the sound output in phase.

The matching of the loud-speakers impedance with the output impedance of a monitoring
amplifier is important. This is done by suitable series parallel combinations in the
speakers to approach the amplifiers impedance. If the permanent magnet has become
weak or the paper cone is torn off, the loudspeaker may be replaced. By listening to poor
quality, the ears lose the discrimination of good and bad quality programme. Therefore,
monitoring speakers should be the best available.

Headphones

Headphones basically work on the same principles which are applicable to loudspeakers.
However, with headphones the acoustical loading is achieved by intimacy of the ear units
to the ears. Thus even very small units are capable of providing very good bass
 performance. Most headphones used for high quality applications are either moving coil
or electrostatic. Headphone impedances range from 4 to 1000 ohms. Specifications of a
stereo headphone type EM 6201 (Philips) are given below :

Frequency range 20 to 20 kHz

Matching impedance 4 to 32 ohms

Maximum input 0.1 watt.

For checking levels on a studio chain headphones with higher impedance should be used.
Headphones are classified into mono, stereo and four channel headphones according to the
number of channels.

MAINTENANCE OF STUDIOS

It is important that all studios be maintained in the best condition at all times. The
maintenance schedule suggested below should therefore be carried out very regularly.

FLOORING

i) Where marblex is provided it must be swept to remove dirt and soil. If any liquids
are spilled, they should be mopped up immediately.
Every fortnight, the floor must be washed with soap and water, then wiped with damp cloth
or mopped with clean water. Detergents, harsh soaps and chemical cleaning agent should
be avoided. Soft soaps will give best results.

To remove stub born marks, scrub with a soft coir brush or fine plastic wire brush bright
look.

The following precautions may be followed

 Marblex floors should be protected from heavy point loads.

 Furniture and other heavy articles should not be dragged on the marblex flooring
  Kerosene, petrol, turpentine or any polish containing spirit, should not be used for
cleaning marblex flooring.
 Hard scrubbing must be avoided.
 A door mat should invariably be used near the entrance to keep the dust away.
 The exposed edges of marblex must be protected to by fixing aluminium or
wooden strips or angles.

ii) Where Linoleum is provided, it should be mopped with cloth soaked in soft soap
solution and thereafter polished with a floor polish. It is generally not possible to clean all
studio floors every day, and therefore a schedule should be drawn up indicating the studios
that are to be attended to every day so that, at least over the period of one week, all the
studio floorings are attended to.
Where druggets have been provided, those should be cleaned at least once a week with a
vacuum cleaner. The druggets should also be rolled up on this occasion and the floor
cleaned.
If coir matting has been provided, it should be cleaned at least once a week with a vacuum
cleaner. Coir matting should be removed from the studio once a month and taken out side
and given a thorough dusting. Before replacing the matting the floor should be cleaned.

WALLS

Ivory finished celotex surface : Such surfaces are likely to collect dirt marks, finger
marks and scratches, mild damage of this nature can be attended to by gently sand papering
the affected area with number 100 sand paper, and thereafter rubbing dry distemper (ivory)
and finishing off by rubbing with the ivory surface of a small piece of celotex. The entire
celotex surface of the studio should be cleaned at least once a month with muslin cloth.

Distempered Surface : When a distempered surface collect dirt marks it can be given a
coat of distemper of matching shade. It is better to spray the distemper rather than use a
brush or particularly on celotex surfaces as provided in the older studios.

Oil Painting Surfaces : Such surfaces can be cleaned by gently scrubbing with a piece of
cloth which has been soaked in soap solution. If the dirt is removed, the surface should be
wiped dry with a piece of clean dry cloth. Similar process should be adopted for the
cleaning of cement wall finished with oil paint, walls and surfaces finished with transit
board, and any other studio fittings that have been finished with oil paints.

TEAK WOOD WALL PANELS

 These should be cleaned daily with piece of clean soft cloth. These should be wax polished

once a month and a fresh coat of polish should be applied once a year.

i) Skirting : Teak wood skirtings should be dusted daily with a piece of cloth. They
should be wax polished once a month and fresh coat of polish be applied once a year.

CEILING

Studio ceilings may be finished with celotex transite board oil paint or distemper.

Cleaning processes suggested in the previous para will apply to ceilings also. During the

process of weekly dusting and cleaning of a studio, care should be taken to remove all

cobwebs which adhere to edges and corners and cobweb brush should be used very

carefully so that in the process of cleaning, walls and ceiling do not get damage.

GENERAL

i) Door : Door finished with enamel paints should be cleaned daily with a piece of
clean damp cloth. It had been observed that in use, the doors, particularly the area near the
door handle, get soiled rapidly due to finger marks.

Such marks can be removed by gently scrubbing the area with a piece of cloth soaked in
soap solution. The surface should then be wiped dry with a piece of clean cloth and
finished by polishing with some good furniture polish. Very frequently polishing is not
advised since the paint gets gradually removed in the process.

The sides of the doors finished with French polish should also be cleaned and dusted daily.
Normally, it is necessary to repolish such surfaces once a year. But if there are any dirt
marks, the application of furniture polish will be found helpful in removing stains.

Doors handles and hinges are generally heavily chromium plated. These, in use, get dull,
and polishing with French chalk will be found helpful in restoring their brightness. The
metal ring of the spy hold should also be cleaned with French chalk. The spy hole glass
should be cleaned with a piece of cloth soaked in methylated spirit, or by the use of
cleaning powder, at least once a week.
ii) Observation Windows: All observation windows should be dusted daily by
mains of a soft cloth. The glass portions, should be cleaned by using a piece of cloth
soaked in methylated spirit or a cleaning powder. The teak wood frame or breeding of the
window should be attended to as explained earlier. In some cases ‘breathers’ have been
provided in a small recess near the window to absorb moisture that may get into the
observation window space. Breathers are generally small containers of anhydrous calcium
chloride. They should be examined periodically especially during the rainy season and
replaced if found damp or full of dissolved chemical.

iii) Furniture : All furniture provided in the studios should be cleaned every day
with a piece of soft cloth. The wood work of the tables should be polished with wax once a
month, and once a year fresh coat of polish should be given. Steel furniture should be
dusted every day and polished with French chalk once a month.

iv) Studio Fixtures : All studio fixtures such as signal lights, designation plates,
clocks and light fittings should be dusted and cleaned once a week with a clean soft cloth.
Special care is needed in cleaning these fittings since they are generally of a fragile nature.

EQUIPMENT IN STUDIO

i) Turntable : These should be cleaned and dusted every day. All bright metal
portion should be polished once in a week with metal polish. The turn-tables should be
checked for satisfactory operation every day.

ii) Fader Boxes : These should be dusted and cleaned every day.

iii) Microphones and stands : These should be lightly dusted and cleaned every
day. Careful handling of the microphones is necessary as the slightest carelessness may
damage it considerably. The mechanical operation of the microphone stands and boom
should be checked up daily and the fixing screws tightened. All highly polished parts of the
stands should be polished with French Chalk once a month. Dull finished surfaces should
be cleaned with wax polish at the same time.

iv) Panels : All equipment panels should be cleaned and dusted every day with soft
cloth. Painted surfaces should be cleaned and wax polished once a week. Crinkle finished
surfaces can not be wax polished and should be attended to be rubbing with a piece of soft
cloth lightly soaked in some thin oil.
 ITEMS NEEDED FOR GENERAL STUDIO MAINTENANCE

 Some good brand of furniture and floor polish.

 A good brand of cleaning powder.
 Washing soap.
 Rough duster for scrubbing linoleum with cleaning powder and water.
 Muslin Cloth
 Vacuum cleaner
 Dry distemper (Ivory)
 Some small pieces of clean Celotax
 Sand paper number 100.
 Oil paints and distempers of different shades as used in the studios.
 French Chalk
 Cobweb Brushes
 Calcium chloride for ‘Breathers’.
 Metal Polish
 Some thin oil and V-seline for light machines
.
BROADCASTIN:

There is too much over-crowding in the AM broadcast band and shrinkage in the night-time
service area due to fading, interference, etc. FM broadcasting offers several advantages over
AM such as uniform day and night coverage, good quality listening and suppression of noise,
interference, etc. All India Radio has gone in for FM broadcasting using modern FM
transmitters incorporating state-of-art technology.
The new generation FM transmitters in the AIR network can be classified according to their
output powers as follows :
􀂾 3 kW FM Transmitter
􀂾 2x3 kW FM Transmitter
􀂾 2x5 kW FM Transmitter

SALIENT FEATURES
a. Completely solid state.
b. Local/remote operation capability
c. Forced air-cooled.
d. Digitally synthesized crystal oscillator which can be set in steps of 10 kHz in the frequency
band of 87.5 to 108 MHz. Frequency can be selected internally by BCD switches or externally
by remote control.
e. Broadband VHF Power Amplifiers require no tuning.
f. Full power output just by pressing a single button.
g. Automatic output power reduction in the following cases :-
• Mismatch (VSWR > 1.5)

• Excessive heat sink temperature of output RF transistors (> 80oC).

• Absorber temperature 70oC due to failure of one or more power amplifier units.

h. An automatic switch-over circuit ensures operation in the passive exciter standby mode. This
means that either of the two exciters can be selected to operate as the main unit and the other
exciter waits to be taken over.
i. The switching and operating status of the system is indicated by LEDs.
j. RF power transistors of power amplifiers are of screw-in type and no soldering is required
during replacement.
k. Additional information such as SCA or RDS can also be transmitted.
l. Parallel operation of two transmitters in active standby mode is possible using a combining

unit. If one of the transmitters fails, 1/4 th of the total nominal power goes on the air so that
continuity in service is maintained. Fault free transmitter can then be selected manually on
antenna during suitable pause in programme with the help of U-link panels provided on the
combining unit front panel.
m. High overall efficiency of the order of 55 to 60%.

PRINCIPLE OF WORKING
The principle of working of a modern FM Transmitter is given in block diagram in figure 1.
The L and R audio signals are converted into the stereo signal by a stereo coder. The stereo
signal, also called the MULTIPLEXED (MPX) signal, then frequency modulates the VHF
oscillator which is a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) of the phase locked loop (PLL). The
PLL is an automatic frequency control (AFC) system in the FM transmitter is maintained
within the specified tolerance limits of + 2 kHz. In this arrangement, the phase of the VHF
oscillator is compared with that of a reference crystal oscillator operating at 10 MHz. The
frequency of the reference oscillator is divided by 1/1000 with the help of three decade
counters in cascade to bring it down to the audio range (10 kHz). The VHF oscillator frequency
is also divided by a factor N to scale it down to 10 kHz. As the VHF oscillator can operate at
any assigned frequency in the FM Broadcasting band of 87.5 to 108 MHz, the factor N will
vary from 8750 to 10800. the phases of the outputs from the two frequency dividers are then
compared in a phase comparator and the resultant error voltage is amplified, rectified and
filtered to get a DC error voltage of positive or negative polarity which corrects and drift in the
VHF oscillator frequency.
The operating frequency and the variable factor N are synthesised with the help of digital
frequency synthesis techniques. Thus any frequency of high stability (same as that of the
reference crystal oscillator) can be generated by using the same crystal oscillator of 10 MHz.
The FM signal obtained at the output of VHF oscillator is then amplified in a VHF Power
Amplifier with an output power of 1.5 kW. This amplifier is the basic building block in the
series of FM Transmitters. It is a wideband amplifier so that no tuning is required when the
operating frequency is changed.

Frequency Modulation

The type of modulation in which the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is varied
according to amplitude of modulating signal is called frequency modulation.
Frequency modulation is widely used in VHF communication systems e.g. FM
broadcasting, transmission of sound signal in TV, Satellite Communication etc.
Bandwidth in FM
In FM, the BW is based on the number of significant sidebands, which depends
uponmodulation index mf. In practice, the number of significant sidebands is determined by
acceptable distortion. These contain about 98% of the radiated power. By way of best
approximation, the Carson s Rule (rule of thumb) gives a simple formula for bandwidth as
BW = 2(1+mf)fm
= 2( f + fm)

For modulation index of 5 and maximum modulating frequency of 15 kHz, we have:

BW = 180 kHz
A guard band of 20 kHz (10 kHz on each side) is provided to prevent adjacent
 channel interference. Thus the maximum permissible BW in FM broadcasting is 200
kHz. For narrow band FM (mf<0.5), the BW is the same as in AM i.e. 2 fm. When the
modulation index is very large (say>20), then the BW becomes 2 f i.e. 150 kHz. For example,
if fm = 100 Hz and f = 75 kHz.

 2 x 3 kW FM Transmitter

Simplified block diagram of a 2 x 3 kW FM transmitter is shown in Fig.2. 2 x 3 kW

Transmitter setup, which is more common, consists of two 3 kW transmitters, designated as
transmitters A and B, whose output powers are combined with the help of a combining unit.
Maximum of two transmitters can be housed in a single rack along with two Exciter units.
Transmitter A is provided with a switch-on-control unit (GS 033A1) which, with the help of
the Adapter plug-in-unit (KA 033A1), also ensures the parallel operation of transmitter B.
Combining unit is housed in a separate rack.
 Fig.2 Block Diagram Of 2x3 Kw Fm Transmitter

Low-level modulation of VHF oscillator is carried out at the carrier frequency in the Exciter
type SU 115. The carrier frequency can be selected in 10 kHz steps with the help of BCD
switches in the synthesizer. The exciter drives four 1.5 kW VHF amplifier, which is a basic
module in the transmitter. Two such amplifiers are connected in parallel to get 3 kW power.
The transmitter is forced air-cooled with the help of a blower. A standby blower has also been
provided which is automatically selected when the pre-selected blower fails. Both the blowers
can be run if the ambient temperature exceeds 40oC.

Power stages are protected against mismatch (VSWR > 1.5) or excessive heat sink temperature
by automatic reduction of power with the help of control circuit. Electronic voltage regulator
has not been provided for the DC supplies of power amplifiers but a more efficient system of
stabilization in the AC side has been provided. This is known as AC-switch over. Transmitter
operates in the passive exciter standby mode with help of switch-on-control unit. When the
pre-selected exciter fails, standby exciter is automatically selected. Reverse switch over,
however, is not possible.

A simplified block diagram of a 2 x 5 kW FM Transmitter is also given in Fig. 3.

Fig.3 RF Block Schematic of 2x5 kW FM Transmitter

Exciter (SU 115)

The Exciter (SU115) is, basically, a self-contained full-fledged low power FM Transmitter. It
has the capability of transmitting mono or stereo signals as well as additional information such
as traffic radio, SCA (Subsidiary Channel Authorisation) and RDS (Radio Data System)
signals. It can give three output powers of 30 mW, 1 W or 10 W by means of internal links
and switches. The output power is stabilized and is not affected by mismatch (VSWR > 1.5),
temperature and AC supply fluctuations. Power of the transmitter is automatically reduced in
the event of mismatch. The 10 W output stage is a separate module that can be inserted
between 1 W stage and the low pass harmonics filter. This stage is fed from a switching power
supply which also handles part of the RF output power control and the AC supply
stabilizations. In AIR set up this 10 W unit is included as an integral part of the Exciter.
This unit processes the incoming audio signals both for mono and stereo transmissions. In case
of stereo transmission, the incoming L and R channel signals are processed in the stereo coder
circuit to yield a stereo base band signal with 19 kHz pilot tone for modulating the carrier
signal. It also has a multiplexer wherein the coded RDS and SCA signals are multiplexed with
the normal stereo signal on the modulating base band. The encoders for RDS and SCA
 applications are external to the transmitter and have to be provided separately as and when
needed.

Frequency Generation, Control and Modulation

The transmitter frequency is generated and carrier is modulated in the Synthesiser module
within the Exciter. The carrier frequency is stabilized with reference to the 10 MHz frequency
from a crystal oscillator using PLL and programmable dividers. The operating frequency of
the transmitter can be selected internally by means of BCD switches or externally by remote
control. The output of these switches generates the desired number by which the
programmable divider should divide the VCO frequency (which lies between 87.5 to 108
MHz) to get a 10 kHz signal to be compared with the reference frequency. The stablised
carrier frequency is modulated with the modulating base band consisting of the audio (mono
and stereo), RDS and SCA signals. The Varactor diodes are used in the synthesizer to generate
as well as modulate the carrier frequency.

Switch-ON Control Unit (Type GS 033 A1)

The switch-on-control unit can be termed as the “brain” and controls the working of the
transmitter ‘A’. It performs the following main functions:

1. It controls the switching ON and OFF sequence of RF power amplifiers, rack blower and
RF carrier enable in the exciter.

2. Indicates the switching and the operating status of the system through LEDs.

3. Provides automatic switch over operation of the exciter in the passive exciter standby
mode in which either of the two exciters can be selected to operate as the main unit.

4. It provides a reference voltage source for the output regulators in the RF amplifiers.

5. It is used for adjusting the output power of the transmitter.

6. It evaluates the fault signals provided by individual units and generates an overall sum
fault signal which is indicated by an LED on the front panel. The fault is also stored in the
defective unit and displayed on its front panel.

7. It controls the switching ON and OFF sequence of RF power amplifiers, rack blower and
RF carrier enable in the exciter.

8. Indicates the switching and the operating status of the system through LEDs.

9. Provides automatic switch over operation of the exciter in the passive exciter standby
mode in which either of the two exciters can be selected to operate as the main unit.

10. It provides a reference voltage source for the output regulators in the RF amplifiers.

11. It is used for adjusting the output power of the transmitter.

12. It evaluates the fault signals provided by individual units and generates an overall sum
fault signal which is indicated by an LED on the front panel. The fault is also stored in the
defective unit and displayed on its front panel.

Adapter Unit (KA 033A1)

Adapter Unit is a passive unit which controls transmitter B for its parallel operation with
transmitter A in active standby mode. The control signals from the Switch-on control unit are
extended to transmitter B via this Adapter unit. If this unit is not in position the transmitter B
can not be energized.

1.5 kW VHF Amplifier (VU 315)

This amplifier is the basic power module in the transmitter. It has a broad band design so that
no tuning is required for operation over the entire FM Broadcast band. RF power transistors of
its output stages are of plug in type which are easy to replace and no adjustments are required
after replacement. Each power amplifier gives an output of 1.5 kW. Depending on the
required configuration of the transmitter, output of several such amplifiers is combined to get
the desired output power of the transmitter. For instance, for a 3 kW set-up two power
amplifiers are used whereas for a 2 x 3 kW set-up, 4 such amplifiers are needed. The simplified
block diagram of 1.5 kW Power Amplifier is given in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 Block Diagram of 1.5 kW Amplifier VU 315

This amplifier requires an input power of 2.5 to 3 W and consists of a driver stage (output 30
W) followed by a pre-amplifier stage (120 W). The amplification from 120 W to 1500 W in
the final stage is achieved with the help of eight 200 W stages. Each 200 W stage consists of
two output transistors (TP 9383, SD1460 or FM 150) operating in parallel. These RF
transistors operate in wide band Class C mode and are fitted to the PCB by means of large gold
plated spring contacts to obviate the need for soldering. The output of all these stages is
combined via coupling networks to give the final output of 1.5 kW. A monitor in each
amplifier controls the power of the driver stage depending on the reference voltage produced
by the switch-on-control unit. Since this reference voltage is the same for all the VHF
amplifiers being used, all of them will have the same output power.
Each amplifier has a meter for indicating the forward and reflected voltages and transistor
currents. Also a fault is signaled if the heat sink temperature or the VSWR exceed the
prescribed limits. In both cases, the amplifier power is automatically reduced to protect the
transistors.

Power Supply System

The FM transmitter requires 3-phase power connection though all the circuits, except the
power amplifiers, need only single phase supply for their operation. An AVR of 50 kVA
capacity has been provided for this purpose.
Power consumption of the transmitters under various configurations is as follows :

Frequency of Power Consumption

operation 3 kW 5 kW 2 x 3 kW 2 x 5 kW
87.5 to 100 MHz 5100 W 8500 W 10200 W 17000 W
100 to 108 MHz 5320 W 8860 W 10640 W 17720 W

These figures do not include the power consumption of blowers which is 200 W for each
blower.
For each transmitter, there is a separate power distribution panel (mounted on the lower portion
on the front of the rack). Both the distribution panels A&B are identical except for the
difference that the LEDs, fuses and relays pertaining to switching circuit of blowers and
absorber are mounted on the ‘A’ panel.

Panel Type Antenna

The panel type antenna is to be used on TV tower. Doordarshan have provided an aperture for
FM antenna on their towers. The size of this section is 2.4 x 2.4 mtrs. and its height is different
at different places. The antenna system envisaged for FM broadcasting consists of a total of 16
panels. For omni-directional pattern 4 panels are mounted on each side of the tower. Ladders
for mounting these panels have already been provided on the four sides of the tower.
Reflector panel
Two numbers of bent horizontal dipoles and
Two numbers of vertical dipoles
The capacity of each dipole is 2.5 kW. Therefore, each panel is able to transmit 10 kW power.
The reflector panels are constructed of GI bars whereas the dipoles are made out of steel tubes.
Since each panel consists of 4 dipoles, there are a total of 64 dipoles for all the 16 panels.
Therefore the power divider has 64 outlets to feed each of the dipoles. The power divider will
be mounted inside the tower. This antenna gives an omni-directional pattern when the panels
are mounted on all the
four faces.
Feeder Cable
For connecting the output power of the transmitter to the dipoles through the power divider, a 3
dia feeder cable has been used. This cable is of hollow type construction and has to be handled
very carefully. From the building to the base of the tower, the cable is laid on horizontal cable
tray. Along
with the tower this is fixed on the cable rack provided for this purpose. The cable is clamped at
every 1.5 m and the minimum radius of bending of this cable is about 1 m. The cable has been
provided with two numbers of EIA flange connectors of 3 1/8 size on both ends. Both the
connectors are of gas-stop type. The cable connector on the antenna end i.e. on top of the tower
is made gas-through before hoisting. This is achieved by drilling a hole through the Teflon
insulator inside the connector. A dummy hole (drilled only half way) is already provided by the
manufacturer for this purpose. The weight of the cable is about 2.7 kg per meter and the power
handling capacity is about 27 kW. Since enough safety margin has been provided in the power
handling capacity, no standby cable has been provided. This cable can be used later for two
transmitters by diplexing. The attenuation loss of the cable is about 0.44 dB per 100
meter length. The cable and the antenna system should be fed with dry air by
means of a dehydrator provided with the transmitter.
Noise Considerations In FM
FM offers the advantage of a much better noise performance as compared to AM, the reasons
for which are analysed here.
The main parameter of interest at the input to the FM detector is the carrier-to-noise ratio
(C/N). Since both the carrier and the noise are amplified equally by the various stages of the
receiver from antenna input to the detector input, this gain can be ignored and the input to the
detector can be represented by the voltage source Es, which is the carrier rms voltage as shown
in fig 6(a). Also the thermal noise is spread over the IF bandwidth at the input to the FM
detector.
Noise in Narrowband FM

Noise In Wideband FM
In AM, the maximum permissible modulation index m= 1, but in FM there is no such limit. It
is the maximum frequency deviation that is limited to 75 kHz in wideband VHF sound
broadcasting service. At the highest audio frequency of 15 kHz the modulation index in FM is
5. It will be much higher at lower audio frequencies e.g. if modulating frequency is 1 kHz, the
maximum value of modulation index in FM will be 75. It may be seen from figure 11 that as
the modulation index is increased from mf =1 to mf = 4, the signal-to-noise voltage ratio will
increase proportionately. Thus
the S/N power ratio in a FM receiver is proportional to the square of the modulation index. For
mf = 5 and modulating frequency of 15 kHz, there will be a 25:1 (14 dB) improvement for FM,
as compared to when mf = 1. No such improvement is possible in AM. For an adequate C/N
ratio at the detector input, an overall improvement of 18.75 (4.75 + 14) dB is achieved with
wideband FM as compared with AM.

Pre-emphasis and De-emphasis

According to noise triangle, the noise output of FM detector increases linearly as the
modulating frequency increases. Also we know that in a complex audio signal, the higher
audio frequencies are weaker in amplitudes. Thus it is a double tragedy for the high audio
frequencies, their amplitudes are small but they have to face higher noise levels as compared to
lower audio frequencies. To overcome this problem, the higher audio frequencies are given an
artificial boost at the transmitter in accordance with a pre-arranged curve. This process is called
pre-emphasis. In the FM receiver, the higher audio frequencies are restored to their normal
levels through a reverse process called de emphasis.
Advantages Of FM over AM

1. Amplitude and hence power of FM wave is constant and independent of depth of

modulation. But in AM, modulation depth determines the transmitted power. Thus additional
energy is not required as modulation is raised.
2. FM is more economical than AM due to following reasons:
(a) It is possible to have Low Level Modulation in FM as the intelligence is in the frequency
variations only and the modulated signal can be passed through class C amplifiers. But since
the AM signal contains information in amplitude variations, so only high level modulation is
possible in an AM transmitter.
(b) All the transmitted power in FM is useful whereas in AM most of it is in the carrier which
contains no useful information.
(c) Antenna gain is possible in FM due to the reason that directive antennas are used in VHF
range where the physical dimensions of the antenna are very easy to manage.
3. Better Noise Performance
Amplitude variations caused by noise are removed by having limiter in FM receiver. This
makes FM reception lot more immune to noise than AM reception.
Noise can further be reduced in FM by increasing the frequency deviation. This is not possible
in AM as modulation cannot exceed 100 % without causing severe distortion. Less adjacent-
channel interference due to better planning as the commercial FM broadcasts began in 1940s
(much later than AM) ------ a guard band has been provided as per CCIR standard frequency
allocations. FM broadcasts operate in the VHF and UHF ranges in which there happens to be
less noise than in the MF and HF ranges occupied by AM bands. Due to the use of space wave
propagation in which the range of operation is limited to slightly more than line of sight, it is
possible to operate several independent transmitters with much less co-channel interference.
4. Stereo transmission is possible with FM due to its wider bandwidth
5. Additional information such as RDS, SCA can be sent along with the stereo
Signal
 Conclusion

I conclude that I have completed my training successfully on “Radio Broadcasting”. I have

learnt about studio station working, studio transmission, short wave broadcast, Medium wave

broadcast, and FM broadcast (VIVIDH BHARATI CHANNEL).I have also learnt about up-

linking and down-linking of audio data with the help of a satellite.

I learnt how we are able to receive various radio channels from a radio station and also how we

are able to receive channels from Delhi and other metropolitan cities on our radio by down-

linking from satellite at radio station and then broadcasting.